What a coincidence! I read this thread expecting a lament about the cost of applying to law school, and instead found out that you bought almost the exact same computer as I did today. The main difference is that I got a 3 year warranty instead of a 2 year. I saw that 30% offer and just knew that I had to bite.

I have had four different laptops for work in the past 7 years. One Toshiba, 2 Dells, and I currently have a IBM Thinkpad T41. I like the T41, but I have had to send it back to our IT department twice to get fixed in the past year. I never had any trouble with either of my Dells over the nearly 5 years I used them, so I decided to go with a Dell.

I was considering an ultra-portable, but I'm an electronics geek, so I couldn't resist a more performance oriented laptop. Besides, I do not mine carrying around a couple extra pounds of weight.

Good luck with your new computer. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will enjoy mine!

What a coincidence! I read this thread expecting a lament about the cost of applying to law school, and instead found out that you bought almost the exact same computer as I did today. The main difference is that I got a 3 year warranty instead of a 2 year. I saw that 30% offer and just knew that I had to bite.

I have had four different laptops for work in the past 7 years. One Toshiba, 2 Dells, and I currently have a IBM Thinkpad T41. I like the T41, but I have had to send it back to our IT department twice to get fixed in the past year. I never had any trouble with either of my Dells over the nearly 5 years I used them, so I decided to go with a Dell.

I was considering an ultra-portable, but I'm an electronics geek, so I couldn't resist a more performance oriented laptop. Besides, I do not mine carrying around a couple extra pounds of weight.

Good luck with your new computer. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will enjoy mine!

Sweet. Did you upgrade to the 128MB graphics card? That's my only regret.

Burgh - did you buy yours online, or over the phone? Your post seemed to sum up pretty much everything I wanted in my laptop too, so I went to the Dell site and put in basically all the same stuff on the 6000. But, I wasn't offered the free printer, and the Pentium 750 wasn't even an option (I think you could choose from the 720 or 730 - s/t like that - but no 750.) Neither of which are deal-breakers, I was just curious if the way you bought yours might've been a factor...

$1,550 including tax and shipping (Plus $100 mail in rebate for selecting the 2 year on-site warranty)

I think the Inspiron 6000 offers the best blend of performance, screen size, and portability. When closed the dimensions are 13.6" x 10.1" and the unit weighs a little over 6.5 pounds. I really like the ATI Radeon graphics card... much nicer than the integrated Intel graphics you get with most laptops. And since Dell's current promotion is 30% off everything, the memory was priced reasonably enough to justify upgrading to 512MB. I may upgrade to 1GB later on. I guess the free printer is nice too, but I'll withhold judgement until I see it for myself. I imagine it isn't worth more than $50 so I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of it.

In one night I managed to double the cost of my law school admissions process so far.

out of the 170 recruiters at my job who have a mix of Inspirions and Latitudes...I would say about 50 have had major problems and many had to have the hard drive replaced. Now, those were mostly on the latitudes, inspirions seem MUCH better...at least from we have seen. We just make sure to repeat, BACK UP! These idiots never back up.

Does the school you've decided on recommend a Dell laptop? If so, who cares what everyone else says, the school will service, fix, and provide ridiculous warantees for your laptop. I like that I could take my future laptops swimming and still get it replaced.

Sweet. Did you upgrade to the 128MB graphics card? That's my only regret.

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Ya, I upgraded to the 128MB graphics card, becasue I knew if I didn't I would regret it later. I didn't mention it in my previous post becuase I didn't want to appear to be a "one-upper," but since you asked...

Does the school you've decided on recommend a Dell laptop? If so, who cares what everyone else says, the school will service, fix, and provide ridiculous warantees for your laptop. I like that I could take my future laptops swimming and still get it replaced.

-SW

Northwestern does recommend buying a Dell but I didn't see anything about them providing extended warranty repair. At best I would expect the school may offer the services of their IT department to fix software issues. I can't imagine any school offering to replace damaged hardware for free.

I got the Inspiron 8200 when I graduated from high school in 2002. I took the thing to college with me and it was working fine. Three months ago, on a normal day, I work up and was working on my computer. I went to take a shower, came back, and the thing was off. I wasn't surprised because I have burnt out my battery by keeping it plugged in all the time, so I figured that the plug had come out of the wall. This would usually turn the comp off due to the battery situation. I tried to plug it back in and the damn thing would NOT turn on. I immediately called dell and they had me take most of the comp apart over the phone with them. That didn't work. So I called my uncle who works for dell and he had me send it to him to look at.Point of the story is that the motherboard was fried. Absolutely NOTHING happened to my comp in between the shower and when I got back. The damn thing just turned off. I was so pissed...basically because I'm broke and can't buy a new one. Right now I'm borrowing my grandmother's laptop until I can ask for a new one for graduation in May.

All my friends at school who have desktops love them and have never had problems.

I think anything can happen with computers, just make sure you spend the extra cash to get the best warranty.